Tension in Halfmoon as developer clashes with grassroots group

Tensions ran high after a Planning Board meeting Monday in Halfmoon. A father and his son who are seeking a change in the local zoning law to build a commercial garage at 87 Button Road tangled with a leader of the group Future Halfmoon, according to a posting on the group’s Facebook page.
The group said Chris Marchand and his father, also named Chris, approached Future Halfmoon’s Deanna Stephenson after she spoke at a public meeting about whether the board was setting a dangerous precedent if it recommended rezoning the property. Planned Development Districts, or PDDs, have become a favored tool of developers in Halfmoon. It requires a change in town law (under a vote of the Town Board) that gives builders a special zoning designation for projects not allowed under regular zoning. The trade-off is supposed to be a public benefit, as determined by the Town Board, although it’s unclear that’s always a requirement in PDDs.
Projects that have received special PDD legislation range from Hayner’s Ice Cream stand to some of the largest residential and commercial projects in town.
Here’s the excerpt and the link to their FB page:Near the end of the meeting Deanna, Bruce and Bill were walking out and down the hallway when Chris G. Marchand called out to Deanna angrily with sarcasm, “Hey! Thanks a lot for your help in there!” Stunned she responded, “Excuse me?” He then pointed a finger at her and said menacingly, “You don’t know what you are getting yourself into! You’re always stirring up trouble!” Bill told him, “take it easy big guy.” Others crowded around and the grumbling continued.